What young kid doesn’t love to play soldier or cowboy? Children in the United States have been doing it since Revolutionary War times ? the only thing that’s changed are the costumes and the guns. In fact, the guns have changed too much. Airsoft guns look and feel just like the real thing, but they are marketed as a toy for children, making them a coveted item for most coming-of-age boys in this country. Airsoft guns, though, are such a dangerous product that many countries, including Malaysia, Thailand and Korea, have banned them completely.
The United States has kept them legal, only requiring that manufacturers install a 6mm orange tip ? often the only aspect of the gun that doesn’t look convincingly real. But our children have been playing with guns forever, so what’s the big deal? For one, they shoot their projectiles at a speed fast enough to cause major injury to the eye. In fact, a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that there were 19,675 non-powder gun injuries in 2005, 71 percent of which were people aged 20 or under.
Even more tragic are the multitude of cases where police mistook Airsoft guns as real firearms ? the results were deadly.
Of course, the utmost care should be taken with these dangerous toys. But for some, the moment for caution has passed and an injury has already occurred. In those cases, a product liability attorney may be able to help the victim recover compensation for medical expenses, loss of wages and pain and suffering.
